Facebook Lags Behind Pinterest in Social Shopping Engagement

Pinterest is superior to Facebook at stimulating conversations about consumer products.

According to a recent report from BizRate Insights, Pinterest is better at inspiring and driving purchases than Facebook — 69% of online consumers who visit the social network have found an item they’ve bought or wanted to buy, while only 40% of Facebook users report similar results.

Pinterest’s goal is to connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting. The site is beautifully designed and truly engaging. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests. The site has more than 23 million unique visitors a month who spend an average of 89 minutes pinning and re-pinning images. It has established itself as the leading source of visual inspiration in today’s social media landscape.

Reasons for using Pinterest vs. Facebook

The study found that while online consumers use both Pinterest and Facebook to connect with people who have similar interests and styles, Pinterest is more often used as a destination for discovering products, shopping inspiration, and tracking.

Considerably more online consumers (70%) agree that Pinterest is a place to “get inspiration on what to buy”, “help keep track of or collect things I like” (67%), and “to keep up with the latest trends on things that I like” (67%). It’s also interesting to note that Pinterest appears to be the stronger driver of brand association — 43% of members agree that they use Pinterest to “associate with retailers or brands with which I identify”, compared to just 24% of Facebook users.

Brand engagement varies by social media platform

A larger percentage (55%) of Pinterest users have engaged with brands and retailers via Pinterest, while only 48% of Facebook users engage with brands or retailers via Facebook. But customers engage differently on each platform — Pinterest users are more likely to be “Creators” (adding and sharing brand/retailer-related content), while Facebook users are more likely to be “Participators” (interacting with brand/retailer promotions).

Facebook remains dominant in awareness and usage among online consumers

Facebook is still significantly ahead of Pinterest in reach. The latest data from September 2012 shows that 63% of online consumers have a Facebook account, while only 15% have a Pinterest account.

Awareness of Pinterest among online consumers continues to trend upwards — 46% reported in August 2012 that they have heard of Pinterest, up from 39% in May and 36% in March.